The reductio ad absurdum of everything I love

[breakinglight11]

I feel like I’ve just thought of a perfect way to introduce myself to someone who didn’t know me.

This is a short film called “The Tale of Thomas Burberry,” produced as an ad for the famous Burberry London fashion house. A filmic showpiece done up in an expensive, cinematic style with Hollywood actors.

Watch on YouTube

I utterly and completely adore it. It has every piece of my aesthetic.

- Lush, gorgeously realized visuals and cinematography
- A spare, swift-moving and yet still entirely parsable narrative
- Exquisite production design
- Moody emotionality conveyed through facial expressions with minimal dialogue
- The intersection of domestic and grand-scale history; specifically in the Victorian and WWI eras
- The glorification of a visionary creator; specifically a craftsman in the field of sewing and clothing design
- Beautiful, glamorous people
- Gravitas conveyed by the gestalt thereof

Seriously. Throw in a cameo by Chris Evans and a tiny woman who’s mean to everyone and I’d think they made it for me.

And yet… I find it utterly ridiculous. To the point where it makes me laugh. I mean. It takes itself SO SERIOUSLY. The WEIGHT and GRANDEUR and ENORMITY, of what is basically just a really expensive ad for a clothing company. About the WORLD-CHANGING IMPORTANCE of OVERPRICED GABARDINE.

I mean, yes, gabardine is a cool invention, and the trenchcoat made real contributions to history and culture, as the WWI and Shackleton expedition allusions indicate. But come on, dude. You waterproofed coats. Let’s have some perspective here. You cannot sell that on that on the power of Domhnall Gleeson GIVING FACE alone.

And yet. The FACE-GIVING. IN EXQUISITE PRODUCTION DESIGN. I am here for it all day long. The most absurd concentrate of everything I love.

This is who I am as a person. Unironically in love with things I wholeheartedly believe to be ridiculous. Hello, world, nice to meet you.

Comments

[lillibet]

Yes, to everything above. SO MUCH FACE.